An outdoor Mass in Montecristi, Ecuador, on Wednesday. The steeple of the town’s basilica collapsed in the recent earthquake and church leaders decided that it would be too dangerous to hold services inside.Credit
Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

MONTECRISTI, Ecuador — The earth shook and the steeple fell, taking most of the bell tower with it. A white facade gave way, leaving the pews open to the street.

But amid the wreckage at the basilica, one object remained untouched: Our Mother of Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin Mary for which the church was named.

Dressed in gold robes and wearing a tiny crown, she is only about three feet tall. But the statue, which landed on these shores from Spain in the 16th century, has long played an outsize role in the history of Montecristi.

She survived bombardment by pirates and became a rallying point for Catholics when a secular government expelled priests generations later. Every November, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims trek from across Ecuador for nine days of festivities in her honor.

“She is the mother who has taken care of us through this earthquake,” said the Rev. Ángel Toaquiza, the priest who looks after the broken church. “And I think a sign of this is that she suffered no damage that day.”

That she stands at all, he said, was no less than a miracle.

Eight people from Montecristi were among the more than 570 who have died throughout Ecuador since the earthquake struck. Gabriela Rocío Mero, 36, a teacher from this town, had gone with her daughter, 8, and her niece, 9, on Saturday evening to buy school supplies in the port town of Manta when a building collapsed and killed all three.

100 Miles

Area of light intensity

Pacific Ocean

COLOMBIA

Muisne

ESMERALDAS

April 17 earthquake

epicenter

EQUATOR

Very strong intensity

Quito

MANABÍ

Montecristi

Portoviejo

Strong intensity

Moderate intensity

Guayaquil

GUAYAS

DETAIL

SOUTH AMERICA

ECUADOR

PERU

COLOMBIA

100 Miles

Pacific Ocean

ESMERALDAS

Muisne

April 17 earthquake

epicenter

Very strong intensity

Quito

MANABÍ

Montecristi

Portoviejo

Strong intensity

Guayaquil

GUAYAS

ECUADOR

PERU

United States Geological Survey (April 17 earthquake damage areas)

APRIL 21, 2016

By The New York Times

The body of the mother was found on Monday. On Tuesday night, after the remains of the two children were discovered and buried, neighbors from an alley beside the church gathered for a nightlong vigil.

“She was very religious, very sincere,” said Adriana Palma, a friend since childhood.

The vigil was being held under the rubble of the bell tower. With the church closed, the only place for the memorial was outside, Ms. Palma said.

That night, the damage of the church seemed to weigh on people at the vigil almost as much as the deaths in Montecristi.

The cross at the top of the bell tower used to be the first thing people would see when they approached the town from the road, said Ms. Palma’s mother. Even sailors could spot the white church against the mountains when they came from sea.

“It is the pride of this town,” said Fabricio Quijije, a neighbor.

Times like these were precisely when Montecristi would turn to Our Mother of Monserrate for solace and guidance.

According to local legend, the statue was sent to South America by King Charles V of Spain, as part of a pair with a statue called the Virgin of Mercy. The king intended the second statute to remain in Ecuador, while Monserrate was supposed to make its way to the viceroy in Lima.

But the statue had other plans. When the boat set sail for Peru, it was mysteriously unable leave the port, according to the tale. The captain took it as a sign that Our Mother of Monserrate should stay in Ecuador.

Photo

Catholics at the foot of Our Mother of Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin Mary that remained undamaged after the earthquake that shook Ecuador, on Wednesday in Montecristi.Credit
Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Since then, residents say, the statue has intervened repeatedly for them over the generations. Nearly everyone has a story.

Father Toaquiza remembered a terminal cancer patient from Guayaquil who was cured after visiting the church. Luzmila Morales, a catechism teacher, said that just this month, even before the quake struck, she and other parishioners had escaped when a hillside collapsed, leaving her bus under an avalanche.

“We began to pray,” she said. “She covered us with her shroud.”

The statue’s survival of Saturday’s earthquake has especially captured the imaginations of those of Montecristi, a sign of hope in a week with little good news.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Dalinda Bravo, a 28-year-old from nearby Portoviejo in training to become a nun, recalled sitting in the church on Saturday evening, as she had countless times before, praying and singing songs to the Virgin Mary.

Suddenly a roar echoed through the church. Cracks began to tear across the walls. A statue of St. Peter fell and broke in two.

“It felt like we were in a blender,” she said.

Father Toaquiza was having coffee across the street, preparing for 7:30 Mass, when the tremors began.

“Thank God we hadn’t started Mass when the bell tower fell,” he said. “That was the miracle.”

Photo

Workers cleaning up the debris of the steeple of the basilica in Montecristi. Eight people from Montecristi were among the more than 570 who died throughout Ecuador because of the earthquake.Credit
Meridith Kohut for The New York Times

Four days later, he gathered with a group of about 200 to celebrate the evening Mass, which has been moved outdoors.